How many of you use protoboard or stripboard or somthing similiar????


Also today I was walking my local fleamarket and someone gave a sheet of 8"X11" clad board and I was thinking about building my first curcuit board with it ... But my question is what does you use to cover the copper traces? ??? I was thinking about coating the copper traces with solder or using that silver plate like solution .. The solder mask just seems like a lot of work for me ..,.





Thanks
Jason Sr

 

My favorite for quick prototype or one-offs is strip board.
3rd & 4th Down.
http://www.futurlec.com/Protoboards.shtml
If you want some protection there is Conformal Coating.
Max.

 

Back when I did a lot of prototyping, at home, I eventually started just making a PCB for each iteration, much of the time. I could go from computer screen layout to finished PCB in under an hour. (http://www.fullnet.com/~tomg/gooteepc.htm , but it's now way-outdated; also see the Homebrew_PCBs group at yahoogroups.com )

Strip-board and other PCB-type proto-boards are very good, too. But if you get to the point where layout matters, then layout matters and you might as well make a PCB so you're not guessing as much.

I never bothered coating prototypes, since they weren't around long-enough.

For longer-term use, there was a product called TINNIT, that seemed to work very well. It was two powders that were mixed, heated a little in a microwave I think, and then dipping the board for a few minutes coated all of the copper with shiny tin (or something like it). If you just want to prevent oxidation, I guess a lot of different types of coatings could work.

 

I use both stripboard and PCBs depending on what I am doing. The free version of VeeCad is reasonable for stripboard layouts.

Like others have said, I generally don't coat PCBs but if I do need to, I just give it a spray with clear car lacquer. It the etching is a bit rough and the board is fairly simple I do sometimes run solder over the tracks.

 

Right now I am using some German company protoboard program that I really like ..

Thanks Guys for info
Jason SR

 

Right now I am using some German company protoboard program that I really like ..

Thanks Guys for info
Jason SR

which one?

 

which one?

Blackboard circuit designer

 

For one-offs or proof-of-concept, I use 0.1x0.1" one-pad-per-hole vector board. I do the schematic and PCB layout in ExpressPCB (free). In the PCB layout I do everything on multiples of 0.1" spacing, so it will match the vector board. I then use point-to-point wiring with stripped or insulated 32 Ga. Kynar wire-wrap wire, following the PCB layout trace locations. If I need two-sided to route traces, I just do both sides on the bottom with two different colored wire. I'm not into high frequency designs, so this works for me.

Ken

 

I have finally gotten a reliable PCB DIY process using a modified laminator and toner transfer. I think I can make a PCB about as fast as I could do a proto board considering how error prone the proto board wiring is.

My modified laminator a cheapo from Harbor Freight. I replaced the 130C thermostat with a 160C and slowed the laminator down by making a uController circuit turn it on for 1/2 sec with adjustable off. 5 seconds off transfers the toner reliably in one pass with 0.01 inch traces and spaces coming out okay.

Bob

p.s. My only remaining problem is getting all of the toner to transfer reliably. I have tried almost every kind of paper and get the best results with the blue pastic transfer sheets designed for that purpose. But i still get holes in some traces and have to fix them with a very tiny paint brush and acrylic paint. If anyone knows an exact paper product that works better than this, let me know!

 

Blackboard circuit designer

I take it you presently have to know German to be able to use it, Ja?
Max.

 

I take it you presently have to know German to be able to use it, Ja?
Max.

I know a little german but the website is german but the program run on english....

 

I take it you presently have to know German to be able to use it, Ja?
Max.

nein

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJkWro8SJsk

 

At least the person in the video could have connected the rectifier correctly to the transformer's secondaries....and added a filter capacitor.
Essentially that technique is what I do in ExpressPCB. The advantage of ExpressPCB is that there is a net list crosscheck between the schematic and the PCB. As the circuit gets more complicated, it saves a lot of errors on this type of wiring layout.

Ken

 

My favorite for quick prototype or one-offs is strip board.
3rd & 4th Down.
http://www.futurlec.com/Protoboards.shtml
If you want some protection there is Conformal Coating.
Max.

Thank you, Max.

First time ever seeing that site, and some of their prices are better than Ebay.

 

nein

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJkWro8SJsk

Does BB allow include drawing a schematic or at least import a netfile of some kind?
Max.